Ask anyone to explain “life” in one single sentence and you can probably expect a long pause and a big sigh before getting an actual answer. It’s a well-known fact that this life is not exactly a walk in the park. One of the best parts of our belief in God is knowing that there’s something better waiting for us after this. Knowing that when all is done, we’ll be going to a place far greater than anything we could possibly imagine. But can this knowledge of Heaven make us lazy? Sort of like that one uni subject you know you’ve already passed regardless of the mark you get in your final exam. You might study a little bit, but in the back of your mind you’re not really trying because it doesn’t really matter anyway. In the same way, can we subconsciously put less effort into our present because we know this isn’t where it ends?
Life shouldn’t be about “surviving” until the day we get to go home. We were given an entire planet, with an entire race, handcrafted by the greatest Artist ever known. We were made to experience joy here. How do we do that?
All you need to do is CLIMB.
Create
Create your own happiness. I would slump on the couch after a long hard day at school, and complain to my family that I was in a rut. I was 15, and life was boring—I know, right? While I now know that this was just my teenage-self exaggerating, my parents would always say the same thing: “Find what makes you happy, and do it.” That was the exact problem though, I didn’t know what made me happy! So here’s how you fix it . . . do everything. Get involved in as much as you can, as often as you can, and when you find what you love, repeat. You’ll get a few hits and a lot of misses, but when you find where you fit, you won’t ever regret a single second of what it took to get there.
Look
We live in an incredible place and something tells me God didn’t create it purely for His own benefit. He could have put us on Mars where there’s nothing but fireballs and molten lava, but instead he gave us opportunity for adventure, exploration and discovery! My sister finds joy in travelling the world. Her experiences and the people she meets along the way give her a spark that lights up her world. For me, drop me off at your local beach and I wouldn’t want for anything else in my entire life. Find the places you love—and go there often.
Invest
People are designed to be with other people. While we have our introverts, extroverts and in-betweeners, we were all hardwired to be in the presence of the like-minded. Form friendships and make memories, be it with a roomful of people or just a handful. Look for those who lift you up and invest in them. They will give you value that’s indescribable.
Move
There is nothing much worse than becoming stagnant in life. The second we stop doing, we stop improving. Challenge yourself! Try new things! No matter how difficult the task ahead seems to be, hold your head up high, leave your safe place and keep moving.
Be
We couldn’t possibly go through an entire article without talking about health—that would just be silly. So my final piece of advice is to care for yourself and learn how to simply be. While we naturally want to know everything all at once, this is not our job. Life may swing between easy and hard, and we will never know what’s coming next, so sit back, take a breath, and relax. Be kind, stay healthy and equip yourself to keep up with the life God has planned for you. It is going to be amazing, hold on to your hat.
